Time to Move On
by achi21
Summary: This is a different take on An Affair to Dismember. No Fran didn't get on a boat with Nigel, but she did leave to take a new lease on life. How will everyone, especially Maxwell handle it?
1. Chapter 1: The Note

Time to Move On

This is a different take on An Affair to Dismember. No Fran didn't get on a boat with Nigel, but she did leave to take a new lease on life. How will everyone, especially Maxwell handle it?

I do not own anything of The Nanny. Please enjoy any feedback would be appreciated

Fran walks in to Maxwell's office and puts the note on his desk. She looks down upon it and sighs. She walks over to the corner of the desk dragging along her fingertips along the edge and hops up for the last time. She ponders for a moment and wipes a stray tear that had just begun to fall. Fran hops off grabs her suitcases and gets into a taxi without looking back.

To meet Nigel? No. She dismissed that idea knowing well that she is not in love with him, but instead liked the mere thought of getting married and becoming a Sheffield. Where will the night take her? She doesn't know yet. Fran knows she is not ready for her mothers bombardment of questions and she knows that Val cannot keep a secret. So she goes to a place that no one will find her.

It's late and Maxwell finally arrives home after a difficult day at work. His work is never done and so he goes into his office to finish up some paperwork for some backers. Maxwell sits in his chair and leans back exhausted. He sits up to see some familiar handwriting. "What can Miss Fine need that it has to be in a letter?" he ponders. His gut tells him something is not right.

_My Dearest Maxwell,_

_This will be the last you hear from me. I left and I am not coming back. Something has happened tonight that made me put a lot of things into perspective. Nigel proposed to me and asked me to go to London with him. I was overjoyed by the idea and considered it for a brief moment, but every time I tried to picture what my life would be like, your face kept coming up. So do not fret I am not marrying Nigel. This situation really made me think and I really began to evaluate my life and what road I am on._

_From day 1, I have loved your kids as though they were my own. In my mind I know I didn't give birth to them, but those are my children. I hurt for the kids because I wanted nothing more than to be their mother. I selfishly have been playing the mother card for years and rarely ever the part as a nanny. I know I disappointed them by leaving, but it's time I take on my duty as a nanny since I will never be their mother. No matter how bad I want to, you and I both know that I couldn't be a nanny forever. The kids are grown and I know they will miss me just as much as I will miss them. Grace is 12 and has been able to handle life on her own for quite some time. They do not need me anymore, not as a nanny at least. I will always be there for them as a friend and someone to trust. You have some amazing children Maxwell never forget that and I am sure they are making Sarah very proud. Do not shut them out after my departure. Please._

_As for you and I, I thought that with time, we would get our fairy tale. I can see now that it is not going to happen. I have waited 5 LONG years Maxwell and a girl can only wait for so long. I feel like I have given you your space and time so you can grieve, but Sarah has been gone a long time now, and I know you are aware of it. This leads me to believe that you are just afraid and running from commitment and the idea of falling in love again. I know you are sick of me bringing up "the thing," but you need to see it from my side. Maxwell you are so stubborn and you have yet to even listen to me about it. You have hurt me multiple times over the years, never intentionally, but this time it was different. Taking back that you love me took all the hope I had for us away. I became a shell and the joy for life I saw is gone. I was on cloud nine when you said you loved me. Even though I thought we were going to die, I was at peace with it because I was going through it with the man I love and that I had confirmation that you loved me. Yes I saw the signs, but I am not a mind reader. You keep your feelings very guarded Maxwell Sheffield so I never knew for sure. That night I fell more in love with you than I thought possible. From that moment, I thought it's Maxwell Sheffield or I am going to be alone for the rest of my life. I could not fathom the thought of being with another man. I tried to force the idea of a life with Nigel in my head but it always fell apart. Your eyes, your children were the only things on my mind._

_I cannot do it anymore Maxwell. I cannot interact with you and repress my feelings for you. That is not how I live life. I am done holding myself back and putting on a fake act for the children. Things have not been fine since "the thing" and you know it. I really do not think that it can or will ever be fixed. Maxwell Sheffield I gave you my heart and you only did damage to it. You can keep the broken pieces, my heart was only meant for you. Harsh? Yes, but it's the truth and the truth hurts. I am so angry with you. I am angry at you for ruining what could have been. Sure I know you'll blame me because I walked out, but you walked out the second you took back I love you. I am angry for the hurt you caused you, me, the kids, and everyone else involved in our lives. I really wished we could make it work, but you are not ready and honestly I don't think you will ever be._

_I mean it when I say I love you. I will never take it back and I will love you until the day I die. One regret I do have is that I am not strong enough to say goodbye to you in person. I took the cowards way out by writing this, but I do not think I could have faced you. Multiple scenarios ran through my head about what would happen. I know you would have said that you would change, but Maxwell that line has worked for 5 years and the change hasn't been enough. I wanted the last memory of me seeing you was smiling at me and looking at me with those gorgeous green eyes and telling me to go._

_Well Maxwell that is what I did, I left and there is no more cat and mouse game. I am tired of running and frankly I just give up. I guess we both are going to die alone and I will learn to accept that one day. You win. No commitment. Tell the kids I love them and will call soon._

_I love you, forever and always_

_Fran_

(to be continued...)

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	2. Chapter 2: Seeing the Kids

Maxwell just sat there with a blank stare with tears running down his face. What had he done? He knew there was so much truth in that letter that it was excruciating to digest. He read it over and over again each time becoming more painful as the thought of Fran being gone sank in. He sat there in darkness for hours just thinking, but without any thought of how to handle the situation.

A few days later Fran had called the kids and met them for lunch. Fran walked in a little late as usual and saw the grim looks on her kids' faces. They seemed to perk up once they saw her. "Fran!" They all exclaimed as they ran to hug her.

"Hi kids I've missed you," Fran states as she sits down. Maggie is the first one to answer, "We miss you too Fran, the house is a mess without you." Fran smiled, she was sure Maggie was overreacting. "When are you coming home Fran?" Gracie chimes. Fran looked puzzled and frowned, "You mean your father didn't tell you about my note?" The kids looked concerned, "Dad just said you needed space, but you're coming back" says Brighton. Fran shakes her head and tries to hold back tears, "Kids I'm not coming back, you're all too old for a nanny, you don't need anymore.

A soft cracking voice comes our from Gracie, "What?" Brighton starts to chuckle, "This is some kind of a sick joke right?" Fran just shakes her head as the first tears begin to spill over. "Why?" Gracie cries out.

Fran takes Gracie in her arms "Shhh baby it's okay" and strokes her hair. Kids you know you are too old for a nanny. Maggie you are going to be in college soon, Brighton you're in high school, and Gracie you and I both know you are plenty grown up by now. Maggie pipes in, "But what about Daddy?"

Fran sighs "I've come to terms with the fact that he is never going to change. I can't be a doormat forever. I need to try and be happy. I'm losing my sanity with your father." "But he loves you, you make our family whole," Brighton states.

"Kids this is partially my fault I've allowed myself to fill the mother role for you kids and not the nanny, but I am never going to be your mother no matter how much I would like to be. It's time for me to stop playing games. I will always be a friend or whatever you need." Grace sits up from Fran and with anger in her voice states "What I need is my mother to come back home and stop all of this nonsense."

Fran is taken aback by Gracie's outburst, "Gracie please quit making this so difficult, I want to be in your kids' lives, I love you guys, I just can't do it the way you want." "Oh so now I'm difficult! If you really loved us then you wouldn't walk out on me, how can you just do this? No warning! You just pack up your bags and walk out the door! My Fran would never do this to our family! I can't even look at you right now. You're ruining everything. The only mother I've ever really known and you walk out on me!" Gracie runs out the door and her siblings follow her leaving a shocked Fran sitting in the booth.

Fran never thought the kids would take it so hard, especially her baby, Gracie. Fran stops and realizes that in her head Gracie has always been her baby. She's had Grace for longer than Sarah had her. Fran frowns, was she really making the right choice? She had never seen Grace so distraught, ever. Fran's heart was breaking, she hurt her poor kids. Fran was so sure she was making the right choice, now she has no idea what to do. She can't leave her kids so miserable, but going back would make her miserable by just having Maxwell playing with her emotions. She knows she still can't be the kids nanny forever, but maybe she should have waited a few years. "Frannie you are prolonging the inevitable" her inner voice yells. Fran is so torn and feels like someone is playing tug of war in her head. She goes home to just cry and relive her meeting with the kids.

Meanwhile, Maxwell has been walking around the house like a zombie for days and the rest of the house was not much different. The kids don't interact with him, Niles is on autopilot and even C.C. feels the awkwardness. Maxwell walks past Miss Fine's empty room and walks inside. He sits on the bed having never felt this alone in a long time. He walks around the room just trying to take it in. When he walks by her closet he pauses, he couldn't remember the last time he had ever seen it so bare. That's when he noticed a shoebox in the corner. "That's odd" he thinks and opens the box. When he sees what's inside his heart stops. He continues to go through it and the tears begin to fall. Pictures of them were inside the box from the first one her mother took to pictures of them on vacation and every little thing in between. They looked so happy together, and they really did look like a couple. The pictures seemed to be in chronological order and as he went through them he saw the sparkle in Fran's eye grow. It was obvious that just in the pictures she was so in love with him. As he reached the last few there was a sparkle he saw in his eye that he hadn't seen since pictures with Sarah. Was he really in love with her? Was Miss Fine right? Was he ready for a commitment? That he could not answer and took the box into his bedroom and fell into a restless sleep.

(to be continued...)

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	3. Chapter 3: The Phone Call

It had been a month after that disaster lunch with the kids and Fran was even more miserable than before. She had picked up a job waitressing just to pay the bills. Nothing brought her joy anymore now that her kids were ignoring her. Fran sat at the kitchen table in her apartment looking out the window. The rain streaming down her window matching the tears cascading down her face as she sat there thinking what Max was doing at that very minute.

Meanwhile Max was sitting in his office going through Fran's box again. Every time he went through it something new caught his eye. Inside of it there were the London plane tickets, a broken shard of the glass vase he bought her for Christmas many years ago, her reunion invitation, tickets to his openings, and so much more. They were all very fond memories the two of them shared.

Fran couldn't stand having her kids ignore her so she called the house, for the 8th time this month, hoping they would pick up.

Max was alone in the house when he heard the phone ring. "Hello" Max stated as he picked up, but he was met with a sigh followed by a silence on the other end. Fran's heart dropped. She couldn't hang up even though her mind is screaming at her to do so. "Fran?" he questioned. Fran remained silent for a brief moment but then in almost a whisper stated, "Yeah it's me." Max did not know what to say, and frankly Fran didn't either, but neither really wanted to end the call. Fran broke the silence, "Are the kids home?" Max replied that they were out and that it was just him. "Fran, how about you come home and we can talk for a bit. No one will disturb us." "Mr. Sheffield, I just don't think that is a good idea right now," Fran stated trying to remain strong. Max sighs, "Is there any hope for us?" Fran took a deep breathe, "I don't know Mr. Sh...Max, I just don't know. I'm just so tired of it all." Max hangs on to the smallest bit of hope he has left, "Please Fran this is not a conversation for the phone, will you please just come by?" "Max no, I have done my part to cling on to whatever part of a relationship we had, I am done being the one that has to do all the work. If you want to talk to me so badly then you figure it out." With that outburst, she hung up the phone.

Fran fell back on to her bed, why did this man have such an affect on her? Why can't she simply be happy? She misses him and the kids but she can't go back to the heartache no matter how badly she wanted to. She would surely go crazy in that house, Max had sucked so much life out of her in recent months. All the hot and cold with her feelings has finally pushed her too far.

Max put down the receiver defeated. After hearing her voice, he wants nothing more than to hear her voice and wrap his arms around her again. Max is at a loss at how to get her back and feels as though he really did lose her. He had never heard her so defeated and broken before.

The kids walk in the door, "Hey dad" they all mumble. Maggie asks if anyone called for her, wondering if Sean called. "Well, Fran called looking for you kids." Brighton steps forward, "When will she just get the hint and stop calling and leave us alone? I don't care about her anymore." Max is taken aback, unsure where this is all coming from. "Brighton! That is no way to talk about your mother! She was there for you wh..." Max stopped dead in his tracks realizing what he said. He could not believe he had referred to Fran as his children's mother. All the children caught it too. Max sighed and began again, "Children I think we should sit down and have a talk."

Max headed over to the couch and the children followed. "I am sorry. I haven't realized how difficult this must be for you kids. I was not there for you when you needed me again. That was Fran's one request for me not to do. I..."

"Quit bringing her up" Grace said in outrage as she interrupts. Max could understand Brighton's occasion temper, that he remembered from when Sarah died, but such an outburst coming from Grace astonished him. "Gracie sit down, why are you kids showing such a hostility towards her" Max asks. He hated when anyone talked negatively of Fran, but when it was his own children doing it, he didn't know how to handle that. Maggie answered for her siblings, "Daddy we had a great family, we were finally all happy again. What does SHE do? SHE leaves us, just like mom did!" Max sighs, "Children I know that it may seem similar as when your mom died, and that's partially my fault for neglecting you, but what Fran did was my fault. It is much more complicated than you think. I am the reason Fran left. Most of the reason she stayed as long as she did was because of her love for you children. She really does see herself as a mother to you children, especially you Gracie." He put his hand under her chin and lifts her head to look in her eyes. "Fran loves you kids more than anything, and the last think she wanted was to hurt you kids. You must understand that while we were all becoming happier Fran was becoming more miserable, and that was my fault. What you kids don't know is that I told Fran I loved her."

Maggie interrupted, "Then why did she leave?" "Please Margaret let me finish. I told Fran that I loved her, but then I took it back. I didn't realize how much I had hurt Fran in doing so. I realized I wasn't ready to express my feelings so I took it back and tried to just go on as friends. I don't know who I was trying to fool, but that just made things significantly worse. Without intensionally, I have been hurting Fran for quite a while and I never realized how much until she wrote me a letter when she left. I realized how selfish I have been and how patient she has been with my emotions, recently and over the years. I have been running from commitment for far too long and Fran just couldn't handle it anymore, and frankly I don't blame her. Children don't you see this is my fault and I will not have you talking badly about Fran. Do you children not remember how she repaired our family and all that she has done for you over the years. I cannot believe that after Fran raised you children, that you would treat her or speak of her in such a way. I am very disappointed in all of you. I know you are hurting, as am I, but it is still disgraceful. Here or not, Fran is a vital member of this family."

"I'm sorry daddy, I didn't know" Gracie whispers. "Yeah me too" Maggie states. All the kids hang their heads low realizing how their actions must have hurt Fran. They hurt her the same, if not worse, than their father.

Brighton picks his head up and asks, "Dad do you really love Fran?" Max pauses, sighs and finally admits out loud, "Yes son I really do." "Let's get her back then" Brighton replies. Gracie picks her head up, "Yeah lets bring mom home." "That's my plan, I just don't know how. I never realized how much I put Fran through over the years. There is a lot I need to make up to her, but I need to find her and get her to listen first. I also think you children need to apologize, I know that your distancing is upsetting her."

Gracie starts to cry, "I feel awful, I said such terrible things to Fran. I need to see her. I miss my mom." Max pulls Grace into a hug, something he had not done in a long time. "You will soon Gracie. I will make things right." A tear stained Grace lifts up from her father's shoulder and asks, "You will make her our real mom and you will finally get married won't you? You'll finally make us a family?" This was a commitment Max was not ready to admit to yet. "We'll see sweetheart." This angers Maggie, "Daddy how much more time are you going to waste? If you don't make a commitment soon we're going to lose Fran...for good." She sees the hurt on her fathers face and continues, "Daddy don't you realize the more time you waste, the more you're hurting Fran and our family. It's about time we really become a family. We all love Fran, you even admitted it. Where do you think this road is going to eventually lead to? Fran deserves this happiness, the same happiness she brought back into our lives." Max senses that he is not going to win this battle. "Children I have a lot to think about it. Please just give me some time to gather my thoughts."

They all got up to give their father some space, but Maggie stopped and gave him one last hug. She whispered in his ear, "Dad it's time to move on from mom, she would want you to. She would want us to be happy. Fran brings us that happiness. Look what her absence has done to everyone. Fran deserves your whole heart, let mom go and move on. I love you." Maggie gave him one last squeeze and walked away.

Max sat back down. He loved Fran, that he was sure. Could he move on? Now is the time to do so. Max laid his head back and closed his eyes getting lost in thoughts.

(To be continued)

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